Machine for washing fruits and vegetables



March 19, 1929.

J. SCHMIDT MACHINE FOR WASHING FRUITS AND VEGETABLES "Filed Jan. 23,1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 19, 1929. J. SCHMIDT 1,705,544

MACHINE FOR WAS HING FRUITS AND VEGETABLES Filed Jan. 23, 1925 3Sheets-Sheet 3 March 19, 1929. J. SCHMIDT IACHINE FOR WASHING FRUITS ANDVEGETABLES Filed Jan. 23. 1925 s Sheets-Sheet Patented Mar. 19, 1929-; IV

UNITED STATES PATE T OFFICE;

JOHN SCHMIDT, OF HO OPES'I'ON, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO SI'BAG'U'E-SELLSCOBPORL- TION, OF HOOIBES'ION, ILLINOIS.

Mncnmn ron wasnnne rnurrs AND vnenranms.

Application filed January as, 1925. Serial its; 4,248.-

This invention relates to a machine for washing and treating fruits andvegetables prior to canning and utilizes a bed of water agitated bymeans of jets of air ischargedwithin the body of water in which thefruit or vegetables are immersed or floating.

v In the canning of all fruits and. vegetables it is necessary as a'preliminary operation of preparation to em loy some means of removingdirt and foreign matter from the material, and various means have beenemployed for the purpose, but in no in-- stance previous to thisinvention has an automatic apparatus been provided for doing this workin as efficient or convenient a manner.

An object of the invention contem lates' providing a longitudinallyarrange machine having two compartments, in each of which is arranged achain type of conveyor moving in both horizontal and inclined directionsto properly convey the material a very large output and a highlyeflicient. operation. 1

With such objects in view as well as'other advantages inherent in theinvention, the novel structural peculiarities, novel or anization ofelements, and the separate an collective operations involved in carryingout the. recited objects of my invention which' will be made the subjectmatter o claims hereto appended, I wish it to be understood that theseveral necessary elements and combinations constituting the same may bevaried in their proportions, placement, general arrangement andoperative relation without departing from ,thescope and nature of myinvention. a

In carrying out the objects of my inven-v tion in a concrete form ormachine, further objects, advantages and improvements have been evolvedthan have been recited and. in order tomake the invention more clearlyunderstood there are shown in the accombeing handled through and out ofthe water ppanying drawings, means and mechanism compartments.

v Another object of the invention resides in providing means fordischarging jets of, air, under pressure, into the bodies-of water tothereby keep the water in a 'tation and thus keep the fruit and vegetales turning and moving aboutv during their passage therethrough tobetter eifect a proper and and thorough cleaning.

Another object of the invention resides in providin a settlingdepartment in the bottom of t e compartmented tank for receiving thedirt and'residue washed from the fruit or vegetables, with means fordischarging the accumulated dbris therefrom at frequent intervals duringthe -operation of the ap aratus. p

, A furt er object resides in providing a self contained unit suppliedwith means for compressing and conveying air to the several"compartments ofthe machine; means for supplying water in the requiredquantities;

drive means for operating the several mov- .able elements of theapparatus with means adjacent each water compartment for creating acurrent flow of the water in each compartment that will tend to gentlymove the body of fruit or vegetables eing treated, forward through themachine and thus permit ofa rapid and continuous assage of materialthrough the apparatus,-g1ving 1t tothe exact details shown.-

' scope embodying the preferred structural arran ement and the preferreddisposition of t 0 different parts and combinatlons, in which I havesimply illustrated one way of embed ing the creative part or conceptionof t e invention in a concrete form or machine, and in so doing I do notwish to limit the claims The described devices are simply embodiment ofthe invention which other structures might also employ and some of theparts and combinations of parts may be used without the others indiiferent types of such-machines without departure from the purview ofmy invention and I regard myself as entitled-to such variations om theshown and described devices as fall'within the and meaning of the claimsappended hereto. g

Reference being now had-to the'accompanying drawings a' better andclearer understanding of the inventlon as applied to an operativemachine will be had. It being Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an apparatusembodying the invention with parts of the housing broken away to bettershow the interior construction and operation. This view clearly showsthe elevators; air jets; air compressor; driving mechanism and thegeneral arrangement of the operative elements.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the discharge and of the apparatus. Thisview clearly shows the water pipes for conveying and discharging jets ofclean water onto the washed material just as it is being elevated out ofthe water compartments and the geared arrangement of the drivingmechanism.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional elevation on approximately the line 3-3 ofFig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows and shows the laterallocation of the air compressor; the air piping; water pipes and jets andthe location of the conveyor in the main housing.

i i 4 is a cross sectional elevation on approxlmately the line 44 ofFig. 1 and the rotary agitators clearly shows one of flow in the waterfor producing a current compartments,

Fig. 5 IS a detail of the overflow device from the Water compartments.

embodying my invention comprisesa longitudinally arranged doublecompartmented tank built up of structural steel and plates as being avery suitable material, the compartmented tanks are designated by thenumerals 1 and 2. Arranged in each of thetanks are conveyors 3 and ,4,each having a portion located adjacent the bottoms of the tankstraveling in a horizontal direction and then moving toward the to s ofthe; tanks in an inclined direction. The conveyor in compartment 1discharging into compartment 2 and the, conveyor in compartment 2discharging from the apparatus.

suitable receptacle The material to be washed, such as any globularfruits or vegetables as well as spinach, kale, beet greens and the likemay be placed in com- I partment 1 by hand means or it may be depositedintothe compartment 1 by'means of a belt conv'eyoras isindicated at 5.rz'

The fruits or; vegetables ordinarilyfioat, in the watery-in thecompartments A'jcurrent flow in each compartment-is produced by agitatorelements 6 and? arrangedabout .centrall over each compartmentwand havingpa dles that dip into thefwater and among the floatin material and causeit to flow toward the exit end of the compartment where it comes incontact Filth theiuclined' portions of the movin elevators is therepicked up and, in e firstf 'instanc'e, dis-' charged into theadjoining-compartment,

, is transmitted to the source of discharge The general arrangement of amachine receive motion from a system comprlsmg Ia c ut'ch member 12,

the medium of suitable miter located adjacent the discharge end 0 eachvof the inclined elevators, and is discharged into the compartmentsthrough small holes washthe producing jets that strike onto andoutcoming material with clean water. The water from tank 2 overflowsinto tank or compartment 1 and is discharged from this compartmentthrough an overflow' device indicated by the numeral 9. a

To assist in the proper washing of the material, air jets are projectedinto the'mass of material from a point below the inclined portions ofthe conveyors 3 and 4.. These air jets have the eifect'of keeping thematerial somewhat separated and in motion so that it comes in contactwith changing water and is thus more efficiently washed and cleaned ofthe dbris accompanying such product during the harvesting and conveyanceto-the conveyors act as interrupters to the air jets and in a measureprevent them from blowing straight out into the water.

Air under a moderate pressure is provided for the purpose through themedium of a the washing medium it is not thereby redistributedthroughout the body of water, so-

that the material being cleansed is subjected to comparatively: cleanwater at all times, and is especially washed with clean water from thewater jets at each discharge point" as it passes over the end of theconveyor.

source of disposal. The cross bars of the To assist in producing theproper forward movement of the material through the washing medium theagitators or current flow members-6 and 7, rotating at a proper speedand dipping into the water and mass of material, constantly urgeitforward toward the dischar trend of each compartment, so that. acontlnuous movement is maintained and thus a com' arativel 3 largeamount of material may be andled in a'given time and I i a continuousoperation maintained. L; M

Suitable discharge means are provided.

for disposing of the accumulated residue in quent intervals,'by thepipesfll.

The operative elements f the wer transmission pinion 13, gear 14, shaft15, connecting with the horizontally disposed shaft 16 through arslocated in a manner to connect the-various elements the bottoms of thecompartments, at fre-- apparat 5 permitting the material being treateas, is wellshown in Fig. 1. The blower receives motion from a separatesource of power through the belt 17.

The operation of the machine illustrated as embodying one form of myinvention would be substantially as. follows:

The operation may differ somewhat, however, in another form of machineembodying the concept of the invention, wherein the arrangement of theoperative elements may be somewhat different, but theresult produced inits operation the same, or substantially the same.

The material to be'treated may be supplied to the apparatus through themedium of a suitable belt, or other t e of conveyor and dumped directlyinto t ebodyjof water-in compartment 1. Most fruits and vegetables orleafy material will float. Through the agitatin action of the rotarymembers 6 and 7 t e water in which the material is- 1s in more or lessmotion. Motion is dum also imparted to the'washing water by means of airjets discharging into thebody of liquid from below. The combined actionof the agitators 6 and 7.and the air jets will be to keep the materialin movement and turning over and over and rubbing against each other ina gentle manner whereby the dirt and foreign matter will be rubbed andwashed off and drop into the settling s ace to come constantl intocontact with clean water. After t is washing through the agitation ofthe water the materialpasses toward the, discharge end of-each comartment and as it is being elevated out o the main body of wash water itis thoroughly sprayed by the water jets coming from the pipes8 locatedover the upper ends of the Anotherveryaimportant feature of theoperation offthis. apparatus should be mentioned. The'rubbing togetherof the fruit in this washer due to the agitation of the water by the airfjets, is so gentle that there is no bumping o the fruits to causebreak+ ing of the skins and thereby permitwhat is technically comes outof thiswasher just as sound as when it went in, and this is-alveimportant item in thecanninof fruits an vegetables. The. completeelimination of the tendency to bruise'the fruit permitswit to pass tothe processing room with all offits natural flavors and aromas.

Owing tothe agitator elements 6- and 7,

called bleeding. The

' vegetables being sufficient water supplied to prevent a detrimentallowering of the level'in the compartm'ents.

The first compartment where the materialis received removes practicallyall of the adhering residue, and of course the water in this compartmentis somewhat more dirty on this account. The second compartment is thefinal cleansing compartment and will remove all of the remainingresidue, which usually is not excessive, so that the final washing is incomparatively clean water with the result that any material passedthrough thismachine is more thoroughly and completely cleansed than hasheretofore been possible with other ty es of apparatus.

The conveyors 3 and tare of the ordinary chain type with tie barsconnecting the-two sides, these tie barsextending laterally across thecom artments are in position to engage and pic up the moving material asit passesout of the cleansing water. A bed plate is located under eachinclined portion of the conveyor chains to prevent the material frompassing through the cross bars,-

so that it will be surelypicked up by the conveyors as they come incontact and will be passed on to the next compartment or be dischargedfrom the machine.

Having thus described my invention wha 1 claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is: v

1. An apparatus for washing fruits and vegetables comprising a throughwhich material is passed,.a body of cleansing fluid in said compartment,an elevator wholly contained within said compartment and arranged forboth horizontal and inclined movement, the horizontal portion beingspaced away from the bottom of said compartment to provide a settlingspace'in vsaid compartment, means for supplying air compartment I 2. Anapparatus for washing fruits and" comprising a compartment through whichmaterial 18 passed, a body of cle 1: r g fluid in said compartment, aneleivator'wholly contained within said compartwment andarrangedfor bothhorizontal and inclined 'movement, the horizontal portion 1 vator,

being spaced away from the bottom of said with means for directingfloating material onto the inclinedportion of said elevator.

3. An apparatus for washing fruits and vegetables comprising acompartment forcontainlng a liquid cleansing material, an

-overflow device for maintaining said liquid to approximately a constantlevel, an elevator wholly contained within said compartment and havinboth horizontal and inclined portions, t e horizontal portion beingspaced away from the bottom of said compartment to provide asettlingspace for residue thereunder, means including a compressor forsupplying air under pressure to the under side of the inclined portionof said conveyor, with means for directing floating material toward theinclined portion of said'elevator andv other means for directing sinkingmaterial onto the horizontal portion of said elevator.

4. An apparatus for washing fruits and vegetables comprising a tank inwhich a body of washing Water may be maintained, a portion of the bottomof said tank lying n a horizontal plane and another portion lying in anangular plane, an elevator po- 7 portion of said elevator, means fordirecting sinking material'toward the horizontal portion of saidelevator, with means for directing washing fluid onto the top ofmaterial floating on the surface of said washing water.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

- JOHN SCHMIDT

